'If the result could be achieved without spending the money, then I guess you'd have to question that'

Memorial University president Gary Kachanoski, right, expensed more than $30,000 in hosting fees over a four-and-a-half year period from 2010 to 2015. MHA Gerry Byrne questions some of those costs. (CBC)

Something like searching for a new provost is a good expenditure, he said, but there was office space and accommodations available at the university for free.

"If the result could be achieved without spending the money, then I guess you'd have to question that."

Those who live in glass houses?

Some have tried to turn the debate around on Byrne, who is allotted $65,000 for his operational costs this year.

At a time when most other cabinet ministers saw cuts to their operating accounts, Byrne's department saw a 25 per cent increase in the 2017 budget.

The increase is due to his portfolio expanding to include labour, which will require more provincial-federal meetings across Canada.

'There is some time with family ... I don't think anyone begrudges that.'- Gerry Byrne

When the house is sitting, Byrne, like most other MHAs from outside the Avalon, stays at a hotel and travels home each weekend.

Those flights home cost about $600 for a round trip, but can vary depending on the season. A trip in December 2015, shortly after he was elected, shows a travel cost of $1,739 for "ministerial duties."

The trips home are for work, he said, even though they are on weekends and some are no more than a day or two.

"There is some time with family. I think that's natural," Byrne said. "I don't think anyone out there begrudges that."

Being the MHA for Corner Brook, one of Gerry Byrne's largest expenses is weekly flights from Deer Lake to St. John's when the House is sitting. (CBC )

In their operational budget, members of the House of Assembly are given a constituency allowance to cover expenses in their home area.

While many MHAs use this fund to pay for dinners and events, Byrne's only expenses since being elected were $22 on a breakfast with constituents and $90 for wreaths on July 1.